Use the Force (or the Mind Palace)
by dolphinz.amazon
Summary: We never actually know what Luke sees when he first uses the Force (besides the inside of that blast helmet). What if he visited Sherlock's Mind Palace? (I will update this to include more chapters with fictional characters visiting Sherlock's Mind Palace if there is enough interest.)
1. Luke

**Author's Note: yeah I know this is kind of random. But once the idea came to me, I just had to write it. If there is interest, I will add more chapters with a similar basis: other characters end up in Sherlock's Mind Palace. Anyway, read on (and please review when you finish reading).**

* * *

"Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them." Obi-wan said. Luke closed his eyes, since he couldn't see through the blast shield anyway. He tried to block the shots of the remote, but to no avail. He was hit. "Stretch out with your feelings." his master instructed. Luke closed his eyes even tighter, sighed, and searched deep within himself, relaxing and letting it all go.

•••

He found himself in a large room. It almost seemed like a mansion, or... a palace. He saw a tall man with dark brown curly hair and prominent cheekbones sitting in a chair on the other side of the room.

"Oh, hello." the stranger said. "I see you've found my Mind Palace."

"Your what?" Luke asked, walking toward the man.

"My Mind Palace. It's where I store useful information. I go here when I need to think."

"But... how did I get here?" He looked at the lightsaber, which was still in his hand.

"I don't know. And it doesn't really matter, anyway." Luke lifted his lightsaber up.

"I've got to destroy the trainer!"

"Oh, there's no hurry."

"What do you mean?" Luke slowly lowered his lightsaber.

"Time passes very slowly here. It's so slow, it almost stops."

"So..."

"You've got plenty of time to figure out what to do."

"Obi-wan told me to use the Force."

"The Force? And just what is that?"

"Oh come on, everyone's heard of the Force!" The man shook his head.

"Enlighten me."

•••

After a long discussion, the man finally said "So, you have a trainer to defeat using this mysterious 'Force'?"

"Yep."

"I can't use the Force, but I can help you. It's time to re-establish tangible contact with your world. Listen for the trainer. Can you hear it?" Luke nodded. "Good. Now pay close attention to where the sound is coming from." Luke gestured in the general direction of the trainer. "No, you have to be more specific." Luke pointed to a single spot. "Yes, that's it. Now, get it with your... what do you call that again?"

"My lightsaber."

"Right. Get it with your lightsaber." Luke did so. "Perfect!" Luke smiled, for now that he knew the man, he understood this was an extremely high compliment. The two men stood in silence for a while, relishing the moment.

•••

"Luke, don't you have work to do?"

"Yes, Sherlock. I suppose I better get to it, huh?" Sherlock nodded. "And what about you? Got another case to solve?"

"Of course. That's why I came here in the first place. I simply happened to see you here this time."

"Well, good luck."

"Thank you."

"Oh, and Sherlock?"

"Yes, Luke?"

"May the Force be with you." Sherlock nodded.

"And the same to you." he repeated. Luke returned to the ship, ready to do anything.


	2. Harry

**Author's Note: Sorry about that, guys. I accidentally posted code instead of the text in here somehow. But now it's fixed. Enjoy!**

* * *

Harry Potter went into the pensieve, hoping to find the memory he had left in there. But he soon grew confused as a vision unfolded before him that he could not recognize as his own.

He was in an elaborate palace, standing at the top of a spiral staircase. There was a tall man running up the staircase, his dark brown curls bouncing, as if trying to keep up with him. "Ah, yes." he said, sitting down and putting his hands in a steeple in front of his chin. "This is the best place in my Mind Palace to think. Now then..." he looked in Harry's direction, and Harry almost ran and hid, but then he remembered that Sherlock couldn't see him. This was a memory, not an interactive experience. "Solving a mystery. What fun! So, what do I have to go on?" The man looked into the distance and thought for a while.

...

"Liberty." A loud bell began to ring. It sounded like it was quite large, and Harry was confused until he realized it must be Liberty Bell. But why would the bell be here? It was American! And how could this stranger replicate the noise? He had no wand; how could he possibly have done it? Harry didn't have long to think about this, for the bell was soon to be replaced by a huge marching band. They walked right through the place as if it was perfectly normal to do so. Who was this wizard, to bring so many musicians here? Or else, who was he to conjure up such a detailed image? Harry was so deep in thought he almost didn't hear the man.

"Liberty, liberty, liberty..." The man kept repeating it to himself as if it was of crucial significance. "Never mind. Moving on. In..."

The palace transformed into a hotel. An inn. Harry looked around, amazed. Who was this man? Then a large map of Asia appeared out of nowhere. Harry would have suspected the man was using accio to summon it there, but he had said nothing. Harry walked closer to get a look at the map, remembering that the man would be unable to see him. A country that Harry recognized as India was highlighted on the map. Harry tried to think about what was going on. Maybe the man wanted to book an inn in India… but Liberty Bell and the Liberty March were American. It didn't make sense. Perhaps the man was planning a long trip? The scene changed again. Harry found himself in Germany. Okay, definitely planning a trip. Harry looked up at a sign to see where in Germany he was. He was in Ingolstadt, or at least, that was what he saw around him. Harry reminded himself that he hadn't actually moved. Then the scene dissolved and they were back in the palace. Harry noticed a small chunk of metal. The man picked it up and muttered to himself. "Indium. Atomic number 49… No, that's no good. There's got to be something!"

...

Harry thought a moment. Then he remembered what the man had said earlier. This stranger wasn't planning a trip, he was trying to solve a mystery. All these different things that had shown up were clues. Or rather, what he was trying to make of the clues.

...

Two dogs ran up the stairs, but the man quickly decided they weren't relevant. Then an American came in and started singing. Harry didn't recognize the singer at first, but the song sounded familiar. To his surprise, the man joined in with the singer. It was then that Harry recognized the song as "Hound dog". As Harry began to wonder what a hound had to do with anything, the man dismissed the singer quickly and looked very frustrated.

...

Harry realized that that must have been the last of the clues. He wished he could do something, so he thought a moment. Then it occurred to him: the least he could do was put all the clues together. This was a pensieve, but maybe it would work. Harry used his wand to write the words "Liberty in Hound". He let them float for a moment. Then he realized that "in" wasn't capitalized, which didn't look quite right. He fixed it: "Liberty In Hound". Wait a minute, wasn't "In" an abbreviation for Indiana? All three of the clues had had possible links to America. "Liberty IN Hound". Liberty, IN. Maybe Liberty was in Indiana. "Liberty, Indiana Hound". No, that didn't look right. What if "hound" was all in capital letters? "Liberty, Indiana HOUND". If it was all capital letters, it must be an acronym. "Liberty, Indiana H.O.U.N.D."

...

The man did see, and he smiled in satisfaction and accomplishment, then disappeared. The memory was over, and Harry left the pensieve, utterly confounded by this strange phenomenon.

A few months later, Harry saw the man again. Could this really be him? Harry was awestruck.  
"Well, what are you gaping at? Don't just stand there, you idiot!"/div  
"I'm sorry, I just…"  
"Just what?"/div  
"I just… thought I'd seen you before."  
"I'm known by the whole of London, I wouldn't be surprised if you've seen me in the papers." Harry hadn't read a muggle paper in a long time, and he certainly hadn't seen the man in any of the wizarding world's papers.  
"No, not like that." Harry decided to take a chance. "Liberty in hound. Liberty, Indiana. H.O.U.N.D." The man's face froze.

...

"How did you know that?" He relaxed a moment later. "Oh, you read John's blog, don't you?" Harry shook his head.  
"Never. I don't even know your name… So how did it go? Did you solve the case? It was a case, right? Are you some sort of detective?"  
"It went very well, thank you. I always solve my cases." The man stuck out his hand. "Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective."  
"Harry Potter, wizard. I've also been known as the boy who lived, and the person who defeated Voldemort."  
"Well, then. Nice to meet you, Mr. Potter. It seems you have quite the resume."  
"Thank you."  
"Well, if I ever need a wizard's help in a case, you'll be the first one I ask."

...

"Thank you. Goodbye!" But the enigma of a man had already left./div


	3. Merlin

Merlin drank the chalice, knowing it meant certain doom, and slipped into unconsciousness.

Except that he wasn't unconscious. Merlin looked around. He was in a plain, empty, white room. There was a man lying on a table and covered with a white sheet. Another man that looked identical to him was standing over the body. The man's brother, perhaps? The man turned and saw Merlin. "What are you doing here?" the man asked.

"I'm dying. You?"

"I'm dying, too. I'm Sherlock, and Molly here hopefully has a plan to stop me from dying."

…

He pointed to a woman there with her hair up in a tight ponytail. She was wearing a white lab coat. Merlin wasn't really sure what to do, so he just stood back and let the scene unfold.

"It's all well and clever having a Mind Palace, but you've only three seconds of consciousness left to use it," she said. Merlin wondered what a Mind Palace was. He suspected it had something to do with magic. Perhaps the poison had made him visit this 'Mind Palace'? It was all very strange. He kept listening as she continued talking. "So, come on – what's going to kill you?"

…

Sherlock looked down at the man on the table for a moment and then raised his head again. "Blood loss," he said confidently.

"Exactly," she replied, as if this was of the utmost importance. Had this man been poisoned, too? Merlin looked at the man on the table. It was the body of Sherlock, the man who was still alive. The body had a small, circular wound. Not poison then. But this Sherlock was apparently still dying. Merlin and Sherlock looked back at Molly.

"So, it's all about one thing now," she said. "Forwards, or backwards?" The three of them moved to a room, and again there were two men, identical. Except that the one who wasn't moving was merely frozen in time. "We need to decide which way you're going to fall," Molly continued.

…

Merlin watched as Molly continued to tell Sherlock what to do. The scene changed many times as she and others coached Sherlock through all the aspects of not dying. Finally, Sherlock was gone, and Merlin was left alone with Molly. "Hi," he said.

"Um, hello."

"I'm Merlin." He thought for a moment. "You sure were helpful to that man."

She nodded. "I care about him very much."

"I know the feeling," Merlin said, thinking of Arthur. "Not that feelings matter much to me right now. I'm dying, too."

"What happened?"

"I was poisoned. I can only be cured by this really rare flower that only grows in a cave, and the conditions around the cave are really dangerous. Arthur went to go get the flower to save me."

"That was very brave of him."

"Oh, he's a very brave man. Unlike the coward who poisoned me." Merlin jumped up in shock and gasped. "Whoever poisoned me knows that the cure can only be found at the cave. They'll have an ambush planned or something." He gasped for breath, trying to get his message out as best he could. "Arthur, it… it's a trap. It's a trap."

…

"That's all well and good, but what sort of man is he?" Molly asked, walking towards Merlin.

"I don't understand. Why does that matter?" Molly just looked at him. "He's a brave and courageous man. He'd run off into danger at a moment's notice."

"So?"

Merlin thought for a moment. "Oh, I see. Even if Arthur knows it's a strap, he'll still go on. He'll rely on his strength and his 'wits' to save him."

"So you need to come up with a different strategy," Molly told him. Merlin nodded. "Now think. What do you have? What can you use to your advantage?"

"Um, I don't know." Molly looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Magic! I can use magic."

"Good. Now what can you do with your magic?"

"Well, I need to help Arthur get the flower right?" Merlin said slowly, his mind moving like molasses as the potion kept working its way through his body.

"Yes. How can you use magic to help him?"

"Um..."

"Where did you say he was going to get the flower?"

"He's in a... cave. Caves are... cold... And dark. He might not... He might need help... to... see." Merlin panted with the effort of speaking for so long.

"It's all right. Just breathe. Focus on your breathing. You can't go into shock. You need to relax, calm down, and just breathe," Molly told him. She pulled over a chair Merlin hadn't seen earlier, and he sat down for a moment. "Good. Now then, you said he needs help to see? Can you use your magic for that? Make a light, perhaps?"

Merlin nodded. "Fromum feohgiftum on fæder bearme. Fromum feohgiftum," he said. Then he collapsed. Molly pulled a bed over just in time.

…

The scene changed. Merlin was back in Gaius's chamber, looking at himself lying in bed. Gaius and Gwen were standing nearby, looking very worried.

"You're dying more quickly than they expected. You can't afford to waste your energy," Molly told him. Merlin nodded. "No, don't even nod. Save your energy. What else can you do?" Merlin began to open his mouth. "No, don't tell me. Just do it." Merlin told Arthur to follow the light and moved the light to show him the way.

…

Molly looked at Merlin. "Well done."

"Before I go,"

"Don't say that! You need to keep up your strength."

"Before I go, I just want to say, you were fantastic. And do you know what?"

"What?" Molly asked as Merlin gasped for breath.

"So was I," Merlin said with a smile before slipping back into unconsciousness.

…

Merlin woke up to see Gaius hugging Gwen as she cried in his arms. "That's disgusting," he said. "You should be ashamed of yourself. You're old enough to be her grandfather."

"Merlin. You're alive," Gaius said with a giant smile on his face.

"No. I'm the ghost come back to haunt you," Merlin replied. He had made a full recovery, snark included.

Gwen ran up to Merlin and kissed him. Merlin was pleased and surprised, though he hoped Gwen wasn't actually in love with him- that might be too much to handle.

"Sorry, I'm just... I thought you were dead," Gwen apologized, breaking the spell. If a kiss can be called a spell. It certainly was an enchanting experience for Merlin.

"It's fine. It's more than fine," Merlin replied. He was back. Merlin was alive, thanks to Arthur, Sherlock, and Molly. He would probably never see the latter two again, but he would never forget them. He smiled, ready to face the world again.


End file.
